November 26, 2005

Global Warming and the End of the Carteret Islands

From a story in the Sydney Morning Herald:

FOR more than 30 years, the 980 people living on the six minute horseshoe-shaped Carteret atolls have battled the Pacific to stop salt water destroying their coconut palms and waves crashing over their houses. They failed.

On Thursday a decision was made that will make their group of low-lying islands literally go down in history. In the week before 150 countries meet in Montreal to discuss how to combat global warming and rising sea levels, the Carterets' people became the first to be officially evacuated because of climate change.

As soon as money is available to the Papua New Guinean regional government, 10 families at a time will be moved to Bougainville, a larger island 100 kilometres away. Within two years the six Carterets, roughly the size of 80 football pitches and just 1.5 metres high, will be uninhabited and undefended. By 2015 they are likely to be completely submerged.